MLK Jr. breakfast-goers urged to 'go back and get it:'

Tuesday

Jan 22, 2013 at 3:15 AMJan 22, 2013 at 5:29 AM

By Andrea Bulfinchabulfinch@fosters.com

PORTSMOUTH — Honoring the 84th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday during a celebratory annual breakfast Monday morning, our nation's most revered civil rights leader was remembered for breaking down barriers in society, while those who gathered at the Jarvis Center for the holiday were encouraged to “go back and get it.”

Keynote speaker South Church The Rev. Lauren Smith told the crowd that it's never too late to do just that and that “it's not wrong to go back for that which has been forgotten,” drawing attention during the ceremony to those dedicated to the African Burying Ground Memorial Project to be established on Chestnut Street.

Smith explained to the crowd that the African word “sankofa” literally translates to “go back and get it.”

“The underlying message is that when we return to the past for something that was lost or forgotten we retrieve our future,” she said.

The burial grounds project began in 2003 when the remains of 13 people were found on Chestnut Street by workers digging in the area.

Smith reminded attendees that “the soil beneath this unassuming city street is a final resting place for Portsmouth's early black residents.”

Before Smith's address, Mary Bailey, chairwoman of the project committee, gave an update of the $1.2 million project saying $500,080 had been raised to date.

“It is indeed an exciting time in this project,” she said, adding it has garnered wide community support.

Jennifer Holloway, daughter-in-law of Nate Holloway, co-founder of the Portsmouth branch of the NAACP, introduced Ginger Schoff, a young New Franklin Elementary School student who read emphatically a message from Maya Angelou, “I Rise.”

“We will never know the names of those buried beneath our city streets, we will never know their stories ... But perhaps they might say something like this,” she said.

“Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise,” she proclaimed.

Local and state dignitaries including Portsmouth Mayor Eric Spear who read a proclamation beginning the ceremony, were also recognized during the breakfast, as was the Portsmouth City Council for moving forward with the burial ground project.

“It takes courage to look into the shadows of our past,” Holloway said before introducing Schoff, one of many students who had studied slavery in Portsmouth as well as the life and work of Martin Luther King and who had also contributed colorful art work for the event. They did so “with compassion and with a desire to make things right,” she said.

“The students were moved by what they learned.”

Her father-in-law said he was moved by the ceremony itself and said he was pleased with the turnout for the event.

“It's outstanding, they had a lot of people here,” he said.

During her speech Smith said she does not normally like to use King's “I Have a Dream” speech in her talks about him, but on Monday, the speech from 1963 seemed appropriate.

She said that while she was not yet alive at that time and her mother was just 16 years old, she's been “captivated by the challenges and triumphs of that era.”

“There is no need to repeat the mistakes of the past,” she said and reminded everyone that “we belong to one human family with a shared destiny.”

“May we go out to the waiting day and the waiting year with a light and a passion for justice,” she said.